Research Guides: Catholic Links: Resources for Catholic Teaching and Apologetics

Resources for Catholic Teaching and Apologetics

In a recent facebook entry, Abbot Austin Murphy, OSB wrote:

Last Holy Thursday, I took part in the Joliet diocese's Young Adult Ministry's visits to the altars of repose in nearby parishes. During the event, I was talking with a young man who asked why there weren't more resources about Catholic teaching and apologetics, through things such as the internet. At the time, I was not able to give him off the top of my head too many specific sites to visit. But I thought of him and his comment when I saw this link today. I hope this helps!

In the article, Mark Shea recommends the resources below. (Note: Annotations are taken from the Mark Shea article)

Bishop Robert Barron - The Word on Fire
Bishop Barron fearlessly, lucidly and with great charm evangelizes the Web, particularly with a view to those who know nothing about or are actively hostile to the Christian and Catholic tradition. He is a joyous apostle for the beauty and truth of the Faith.
more...less...
As the creator and host of the 10-part "Catholicism," documentary series and study program about the Catholic faith, he has given us what George Weigel calls "the most important media project in the history of the Catholic Church in America." He is a passionate student of art, architecture, music and history, which he calls upon throughout his global travels in the making of the documentary.

Perhaps the single coolest and most enjoyable gift Father Barron brings to anybody hungry to understand the intersection of pop culture and the Faith is the enormously popular Word on Fire YouTube channel, wherein Father Barron offers brilliantly insightful commentary on whatever happens to be in the news today.
Dave Armstrong - Evidence for Catholicism
Catholic convert Dave Armstrong has been greatly influenced by C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton and John Henry Newman, as well as Malcolm Muggeridge and Father John Hardon. Dave has gone on to be a prodigious writer and arguer about the Faith with countless people on the Web. His website offers a massive array of apologetics essays on everything under the sun (and over it).
more...less...
There is work on the sacraments, tradition (with replies to the great Protestant creation myth of sola scriptura), the Eucharist, conversations about the various scandals in the Church's history, the Church's relationship with non-Catholic and non-Christian religions, and more. Dave has written 24 e-books and maintains a blog in which he merrily argues for the Faith with a wide variety of folks from all manner of backgrounds.

Visit his site if to see a lay apostle at work in cyberspace!
David M. Cheney - The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church
David Cheney has put together a truly massive website dedicated to nothing less than tracking the information on every single diocese in the world. Who's bishop. Who's retiring. What synods, consistories and other meetings are in the works. Historical details of each diocese. Bishops living and dead as far back as we can trace the bureaucratic records. Curia. Cardinals. Religious orders. We're talking current and historical information about every single bishop and diocese on planet Earth.
Ed Peters - In the Light of the Law
Peters' blog is the go-to place on the Web for all your informed canon law needs. He tackles everything from soup to nuts with the measure balance and sanity of somebody who has seen a wide variety of complicated, tricky, bizarre and even funny matters arise as the human parade marches through the Church doing all manner of things that are not According to the Rules. That's OK, because Peters recognizes that the law was made for man, not man for the law, and he therefore realizes that the function of canon law is to help us become more human, not be saved by law, rules and regulations.
more...less...
Ed Peters received his degree in (American common) law from the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1982 and his doctoral degree in Roman Catholic canon law from The Catholic University of America in 1991. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI named him a referendarius — basically a canon law consultant — of the Church's highest court, the Apostolic Signatura.
Fr. Z's Blog
(Formerly entitled: "What Does The Prayer Really Say?" – Clear, straight commentary on Catholic issues, liturgy and life by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf )
The mission of Father Z's blog is very plain: Slavishly accurate liturgical translations and frank commentary on Catholic issues. He delivers in spades, answering questions about all things liturgical for the benefit and delectation of his fiercely loyal readers.
more...less...
Although he's not always everybody's cup of tea in his personal views on politics and culture, he remains a very useful resource for those concerned with the fine points of liturgical practice both legit and whackadoodle. As the age of daft liturgical experimentation draws to a merciful close under good Pope Benedict, the site helps people find resources for what to do about liturgical abuses, loopy ad hoc teaching, and sundry progressive dissenting nuttery.
Kevin Knight - New Advent
Kevin Knight, one of the driest, drollest and funniest people on the web, is a serious Catholic with a serious passion for making information about the faith available to a huge population of Catholics on the Web.
more...less...
His New Advent site is a curious combination of "The Drudge Report" (gobs of interesting news links on the front page about whatever interests Kevin in fields of religion, science, the arts, culture, politics or just plain News of the Weird), plus links to a valuable collection of some very impressive libraries of goodies he has amassed. Need to access a hyperlinked complete copy of St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae? Kevin's your man. Likewise, if you want to see the still extremely useful 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia? It's all there, lovingly typed into html and hyperlinked by a team of devoted volunteers who make this resource available to the world. You may love it so much that you find yourself volunteering to help type in more resources.
Scott Hahn - St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology
The St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology is a nonprofit research and educational institute that promotes life-transforming Scripture study in the Catholic tradition. The Center serves clergy and laity, students and scholars, with research and study tools — from books and publications to multimedia and online programming. Its goal is to be a teacher of teachers.
more...less...
It wants to raise up a new generation of priests who are fluent in the Bible and lay people who are biblically literate.

Scott Hahn's infectious love of Scripture and extremely perceptive commentaries have opened the Bible up to untold numbers of readers both Catholic and Protestant and led to both conversions of non-Catholics and deepening of faith for Catholics.

The St. Paul Center offers online studies of Scripture, audio resources, a vast and growing library of resources, commentary from Scott and other noted Scripture scholars, and information on liturgy, prayer and Catholic spirituality.
Sherry Weddell - The Catherine of Siena Institute
The Catherine of Siena Institute conducts "Called and Gifted" and "Making Disciples" workshops all over the world and helps Catholics connect with the Church's teaching on our vocations as laity, the charisms God has given all the baptized to fulfill those vocations, and the ways in which Catholics can grow as intentional disciples of Jesus Christ.
more...less...
The Catherine of Siena Institute site has a large library of documents which help the reader to root himself in the Church's teaching about our work as laity in the New Evangelization, about our mission as apostles, and about the gifts God has given each baptized person carrying that mission out. In addition, Sherry maintains a blog in which she keeps her finger on the pulse of what is happening in the mission field, as well as keeps tabs on the Church as she helps Catholics grow toward a deeper understanding of our vocation and gifts as laypeople.
Stephan K. Ray - Defenders of the Catholic Faith
Raised as a Baptist, Steve had an encounter with the Holy Spirit that drew him closer and closer to the Catholic Church until, in the mid-1990s, he and his family all made the decisive choice to enter the Church. Since that time, he has dedicated himself to spreading the Catholic faith with all the considerable zeal he can muster. This has included not only making his epic "Footprints of God" video series (Ignatius) but also setting up the massive resource known as the Defenders of the Catholic Faith website.
more...less...
There, you will find a colossal array of resources including, not just Steve's blog and a chat board, but book, video and CD recommendations as well as gobs of links to all sorts of other valuable sites (not to mention Steve's own very helpful writings on such things as the papacy or his Scripture studies). As Garrison Keillor says of Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery, if you can't find it at Steve's site, you can probably get along without it.
Steven Greydanus - Decent Films
Steve Greydanus is a man who loves the movies. A film critic for the National Catholic Register and a regular contributor to Christianity Today, Steve has logged many hours on television and radio, has reviewed hundreds of films and devised a useful rating system that looks at the overall recommendability, artistic-entertainment value, moral-spiritual value, and age-appropriateness of each film.
more...less...
This has proven to be a huge help to many people in discerning not only which films are worth spending money on, but when to bring the kids. In addition, his perceptive essays help Catholics squeeze all the juice out of films by making them more aware of the subtexts of the visuals, story, and acting so they can better grasp how the artists who create some of our best films are communicating their message.